Rebuilding my prestige-less credit card collection

When Citi closed my accounts, I lost my most treasured collectible credit card: Citi Prestige. Goodbye unlimited 5X dining. Farewell, unlimited Priority Pass restaurant visits. So long 4th Night Free.

I’m a card-carrying credit card nerd. I love cards that unlock superpowers like those mentioned above. And, I especially love having “credit card collectibles.” These cards are no longer available new, but if you have them, you can keep them along with their superpowers.

Recently, my collection was dealt another blow. I’ve been intrigued by Wells Fargo’s card lineup now that they’ve been adding new transfer partners. Early this year, my old Bilt 1.0 card converted to the Wells Fargo Autograph card (a particularly compelling no-annual-fee card). Then, more recently, I signed up for the Wells Fargo Premier Autograph Visa Infinite card (A better version of the Autograph Journey card). Next, I was eying the Wells Fargo Attune card, which offers an incredible list of 4X categories. Even though it’s a cash-back card, rewards could have been moved to either of my other cards to turn the cash back into transferable points. Sadly, Wells Fargo stopped accepting applications to this card before I had a chance. I called to see if I could product change my Autograph card to the Attune. No dice. The Attune card is a newly minted collectible, but I can’t get it.

New to my collection

It’s not all bad news for my credit card collection. Two newly minted collectibles have recently joined my collection…

Wyndham Business Earner: 8X-Gas Edition

Wyndham recently refreshed its entire credit card lineup (details here), but current cardholders can keep their cards as is. That means that my pre-6/17/26 Wyndham Business Earner Card became an instant collectible. It will retain its old $95 annual fee and keep its primary superpowers: earn 8X on gas and 5X on utilities (telecommunications, cable, satellite, electric, gas, heating oil, and water). It will also continue to deliver 15,000 points each year upon renewal, more than offsetting the card’s annual fee.

Citi AAdvantage Globe: $199 Edition

Thanks to the timing of my Citi shutdown, I still have one Citi card, and it happens to be a collectible. My Barclays Aviator Silver card converted to a Citi AAdvantage Globe card two days after my Citi cards were shut down. This card might still get shut down eventually, but for now, it’s alive. It’s a collectible because it offers all of the perks of the $350 AA Globe card, but retains the Aviator Silver card’s old $199 annual fee. Additionally, it keeps all the old Aviator Silver perks for an undisclosed period.

The rest of my collectibles

IHG Select

The $49-per-year IHG Select card offers a 40K free-night certificate each year (but without the ability to top off with points for higher-level stays). It also gives the cardholder a 10% rebate on award stays and Platinum elite status. One of the coolest features of this card is that it plays nicely with the current crop of IHG cards that offer 4th Night Free awards (Traveler, Premier, and Premier Business). When I book a four-night award stay, I get both the 4th night free thanks to my Premier Business card and 10% back thanks to my IHG Select card.

US Bank Smartly: Investment-qualifying edition

When US Bank first introduced the Smartly card, it offered uncapped 4% cash back on all spending for any cardholder with $100K or more in checking, savings, or investments at US Bank. When we learned that US Bank was about to nerf the card, I signed up, hoping I’d be grandfathered into the old terms. Unfortunately, like everyone else, my card was degraded. 4% rewards are now capped at $10,000 spend per billing cycle. Worse, I can’t earn 4% on certain spending categories, such as tax payments, education, and insurance. The worst change for many cardholders was that qualifying for 4% rewards was now only possible with $100,000 in a low-interest US Bank checking account. Somehow, though, I got lucky. For some cardholders, including me, US Bank decided that we could continue to qualify for 4% rewards with $100K in any US Bank investments. For example, I could make an in-kind transfer of $100,000 in retirement investments from another bank and qualify that way.

For now, this card is pretty to look at, but not worth investing in. The reason? My card account has a measly $500 credit limit. Eventually, I’ll request a higher limit. For now, this card is on display in my collection, but not in my wallet.

Chase Ink Plus

Chase discontinued the Ink Plus business card many years ago in favor of the similar Ink Business Cash® Credit Card. Both offer 5X rewards on purchases categorized as office supplies, phone, TV, and internet. The primary differences are as follows:

* Points earned on the Ink Cash card can be moved to another card account (such as Sapphire Preferred, for example) to make the points transferable. 

I don’t actually use the Ink Plus card often since I also have the Ink Cash card, and I don’t usually max out its 5X categories. As a result, this is one of the few collectible cards with an annual fee that I keep, even though it doesn’t offer any annual benefit (like free points or a free night certificate) to offset the fee. Is it, therefore, a waste of money? Yes, but I allow myself to waste some money on my hobby.

Bonvoy Premier Plus Business

When Marriott bought Starwood Preferred Guest and merged the two programs into one (Bonvoy), they divied up the types of Marriott cards that could be offered to new applicants by Chase and Amex. Amex was allowed to offer premium consumer cards (AKA Bonvoy Brilliant) and business cards. Chase was allowed to offer free and mid-tier consumer cards. This meant that Chase discontinued its Marriott business cards for new applicants, but those of us who already had cards could keep them. Each year, my Premier Plus Business card’s $99 annual fee is more than offset by a 35K free-night certificate.

X1

My X1 card was very interesting when it debuted as a 3X-everywhere card with attractive redemption options. Then… devaluations happened again and again. It’s now a mostly useless 1.5X card. I keep it mainly because it’s a collectible. It has no annual fee and cannot be obtained new. I use it for exactly one purpose: virtual cards. X1 offers an easy, flexible system for creating single-use virtual credit card numbers. This is great when signing up for a free trial, or when some dodgy site needs a card number for whatever reason. Yes, I know that other card issuers offer similar functionality, but it’s so quick and easy with the X1 app that I haven’t had to look into others.

My near-collectibles

Some of the cards in my collection aren’t true collectibles… at least, not yet. The following cards require jumping through some hoops to obtain them…

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card

This account began as a Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) card from American Express. When Marriott bought Starwood, the SPG card became a Marriott card. You can’t apply for this card directly, but I believe it is still possible to product change to this card from a Bonvoy Brilliant or Bonvoy Bevy card.

The Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card has a $95 annual fee and includes a 35K free night certificate each year upon renewal.

Ritz-Carlton Card

The $450 Ritz card offers an annual free night certificate worth up to 85,000 points; $300 in annual airline incidental fee credits; Priority Pass with 2 guests; and free authorized users (each of which can get their own Priority Pass). Marriott 85K certs can often be redeemed for over $500 in value, so the free night alone can justify the card’s annual fee. I also get excellent value from the card’s annual $300 airline credits and the ability to gift Priority Pass to relatives (by adding them as authorized users). While you can’t sign up new for this card, you can still upgrade from a Chase Bonvoy consumer card.

Wells Fargo Premier Autograph Visa Infinite card

The Wells Fargo Premier Autograph Visa Infinite card is very similar to the publicly available Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card. It has the same $95 annual fee; it offers the same bonus categories (5X hotels, 4X airlines, 3X restaurants & other travel); the same annual $50 statement credit with $50 or more in airline spending; and the same excellent cell phone protection ($25 deductible, $1000 max per claim). On top of all that, the Premier card adds better travel protections, a $120 Global Entry credit, and a bigger welcome bonus.

There’s no public link for this card, but Wells Fargo proactively offers it to its Premier customers. You can become a Premier customer by investing $250,000 of your spare change with Wells Fargo or by opening a Premier Checking account. I did the latter. Wells Fargo charges $35 per month for this checking account (unless you have $250K with Wells Fargo), but that fee is waived for the first 6 months. Two weeks after opening the account, I found the card offer when I logged in to my Wells Fargo account. I applied and already earned the 100,000 points from the welcome bonus that was available at that time. I’ll be interested to see what happens to my card account if I cancel or downgrade my checking account.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.